New book explores 2,000 Calif. wildflowers

Jul. 26, 2008

Provided to the Reno Gazette-Journal

Written by

Details

Nearly a third of all wild plant species in the United State live in California.

Narrow those figures down a little and you'll find about 2,000 species, subspecies and varieties of native and non-native vascular plants grow in Nevada and Placer counties in Northern California, say the compilers of a new book, "Wildflowers of Nevada and Placer Counties, California" ($29.95 paperback).

Vascular plants are defined as those with tissues that conduct water and synthesized foods.

For the book, members of the Redbud Chapter California Native Plant Society, which published the book, photographed and chronicled more than 500 of the wildflowers found in these two counties that border Washoe County.

The book was conceived in the late 1990s as a two-year project for seven chapter members, Chet Blackburn, book project coordinator wrote in the book. But it evolved into a longer project for more than a dozen members.

"The diversity of the plants it phenomenal," said Julie Becker, a chapter director and program committee chairwoman.

Nevada and Placer counties represent many different elevations and regions from valley grasslands to the Sierra foothills, the Mid-Sierra, Sierra Crest and eastern Sierra front. The regions represent difference in temperature extremes, geology, topography and soil composition that all affect the flora found in the two counties, Blackburn and Richard Hanes wrote in the area description portion of the book.

"Wildflowers" contains directions to 21 trails for wildflower viewing with lists of flowers and facilities available at each, tips for using the book, 300 pages of plant photos and descriptions and comments and a plant checklist arranged by plant family.

"Most photos were taken by the people who worked on the book," Becker said. "Talk about a labor of love. It was totally financed by the Redbud Chapter."